Paul Vautin humiliated by Queensland ‘genius’ Billy Slater

Paul Vautin was torched by fans for comments made during State of Origin Game 1, but Billy Slater landed the biggest slap.

Paul Vautin is big enough to admit when he gets it wrong.

This time he got it very wrong.

The Queensland icon was left red faced on Wednesday night after Queensland blew NSW away to win the State of Origin series opener 38-10 at Accor Stadium in Sydney.

As the dust settles on Game 1 it is Maroons coach Billy Slater who is looking more and more a genius — at the expense of Blues coach Michael Maguire.

Slater rolled the dice with an incredible gamble to select winger Selwyn Cobbo on the bench — and he looks like a rugby league mastermind after the Broncos star was injected into the game after just seven minutes following Joseph Sua’ali’i hit on Reece Walsh.

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No coach could have prepared to be down to 12 men for more than 70 minutes, but it appears that Slater took Maguire to school in the Origin arena with his tactics and selections.

The quicker, more mobile Queensland team cut the Blues’ edges to shreds as they ran in six tries.

Billy Slater and Paul Vautin. Photo: Channel 9.

Seeing Cobbo play such an important role and seeing the gamebreaking performance of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow after he was moved to fullback particularly left Vautin looking foolish.

The former Maroons coach publicly slammed Slater’s selections during the week, questioning how the team would survive 80 minutes with just two forwards on the bench with hooker Harry Grant and Cobbo taking up the other spots on the bench.

Now, Vautin admits he got it wrong.

He said after the game that Slater showed he was “a million times smarter” than himself.

“Billy is a genius,” Vautin said on Channel 9.

Selwyn Cobbo and Xavier Coates. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

“Earlier in the week, I said I’m old school, I think forwards win Origin and I would have had another big forward on the bench instead of Selwyn.

“Billy Slater just showed he’s a million times smarter than I am by selecting Selwyn Cobbo … the perfect situation tonight, Reece gets done, Selwyn’s on, he can play anywhere – centre, wing, fullback – and the Hammer goes back to fullback. Billy – too good.”

Other footy fans were much more incensed by Vautin’s defence of Sua’ali’i when commentating on Channel 9.

“Here is the thing, Sua’ali’i thinks he is going to hit him in the chest,” Vautin said.

“Reece Walsh ducks down and all of a sudden he gets hit in the head. It’s reckless and careless but it’s not deliberate. Personally, I don’t think it’s a send off. At this level, we always say there’s a bit of leeway in Origin, I believe he should have been left on. But in saying that, Queensland have lost a player for the whole game. So the referee has probably gone ‘well, he’s gone, I may as well get rid of this guy’.”

Those comments angered plenty.

The Roar’s Tony Harper on Twitter described Vautin as a “dinosaur”.

“The state of these f***ing dinosaurs commentating rugby league,” he wrote.

Another fan wrote: “And thanks to Paul Vautin for calling in from 1985, to announce that wouldn’t have been a send-off when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.”

Meanwhile, Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans has also publicly praised Slater.

“In Billy we trust,” he said after the game.

“He put Selwyn on the bench, it was a master stroke. To be fair, we trained for it. Not that we wanted something to go wrong, but we just trained in case it did. So well done to Billy and the selectors and a really big pat on the back for the team for adjusting on the run.”

It no doubt would have made Maguire squirm seeing Slater’s foresight prove spot on.

It’s the same for Vautin, who just seven days ago was singing a different tune.

“I’m not happy with the bench. I don’t understand why we’ve picked a winger-centre on the bench. I think we’re lacking another big forward,” Vautin told 4BC Radio.

“I don’t know who’s around, but one that comes to mind is Corey Jensen (Broncos prop). Felise Kaufusi is number 18 and I would have had him on the bench rather than Selwyn.

“I’m not a selector, I’m never going to be a selector but I’m also entitled to my own opinion. Forwards win Origin games. They do all the hard work.”

Slater meanwhile lauded his side for overcoming the disruption of losing Walsh, revealing they had planned for such a scenario.

“I’m always proud of this footy team. The way they prepare, the way they carry themselves, they’re a credit to themselves as leaders of our state,” he said.

“I can imagine what 5.5 million people above the border are feeling about their footy team and pride would certainly be up there.

“We prepared for the unexpected and the unexpected happened.”